Jennifer is a New Mexico printmaker and textile artist primarily interested in the natural world. She holds a BFA in Printmaking from Pratt Institute and an MS in Horticulture from the University of Arkansas. She has been a tattooist since 1992 and a Master Gardener since 2004, and runs a farm that grows tree fruit and cutting flowers.
Drawing and printmaking both stand on their own in her work but are also incorporated in textile works focused on natural dyeing on upcycled fabrics, offering multiple avenues for explorations of plant reproduction and growth habits.
She divides her time between the studio and the outdoors, and takes pleasure in careful, close observation of the details of the natural world.
Jennifer Billig Artist Statement
I grew up feral in the woods of Arkansas, playing with, eating, identifying, and admiring the local plants. That keen interest has carried through my entire life as an artist, tattooist, and horticulturalist.
In art school, an affinity for observational drawing expanded into printmaking. Both practices continue to be a throughline in my life, and slowing the world to earth time helps me maintain a respectful and attentive relationship with the natural world.
After settling in New Mexico, I began delving into botanical dyeing for textile based projects, a practice that gave visual voice the plants, while keeping me close to the plant world I love. I frequently build printmaking into my textile work, printing lithographs on top of naturally dyed upcycled fabrics and stitching them into larger pieces.
My studio is filled with seed pods, stems, bones, and dried leaves gathered while outdoors. These gleanings form the basis for new pieces. Currently I am in the midst of a multi-year exploration of plant reproductive structures and newly emerged plants. The magic of seeds and the unfolding of new life is an endlessly complex and beautiful reminder of life cycles and our intimate connection to the living world around us.
In a highly digitized world, I find maintaining a respectful and attentive relationship to the natural world a priority. I hope my work draws people into the complex beauty of plants, to discover something new- not a scientific study, but a celebration of the functions and aesthetics of lives that are frequently overlooked.
